A visiting U.S. congressional delegation pressed Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a bold market opening amid growing expectations that an agreement can be reached for creating a free-trade area across the Pacific.

Japan’s trade deficit shrank to its lowest level in 18 months in December, as robust exports to the U.S. showed that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy of pushing down the yen finally appears to be helping the economy.

Japan expects tax revenue to reach its highest level in 24 years in the year starting April 2015, allowing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to slash deficits and potentially put the highly indebted nation on a more sustainable path.

Japan will use extra tax revenue and unused funds from last year’s budget to reduce its borrowing and to pay for economic stimulus, in a two-pronged strategy aimed at restoring the nation’s economic and fiscal health.